Root Assassin RA-005 Carbon Steel Garden Hand Trowel

I've been powering through weeds with a long screwdriver and that works reasonably well for individual weeds, but when you're weeding a larger area, having the soil-lifting capability of a soil knife like this has sped up my weeding.I was previously looking for a hori hori to use for weeding since I appreciate the versatility, but I disliked the idea of carrying around something genuinely sharp, even with a sheath. The serrated edges on both sides of this soil knife are sufficiently sharp to saw, but not so sharp that it would require a sheath, in my personal opinion. So, it just gets thrown into my garden bag with everything else.I've used it the past couple days on my heavy, rocky soil, comprised of a significant amount of clay. The strength of the blade feels sufficiently sturdy for this use. It seems to handle being levered in one direction just fine, but I feel more comfortable levering it in both directions to relieve some of that pressure. Doesn't appear to be bending at all.I'm not confident that the power coating on the blade will last long. It appears to already be scratching on mine. But, I do prefer carbon steel for my application since it's stronger than stainless steel, even if I end up needing to maintain it more if/when the coating disappears.For long sessions, you may want to consider padding around the handle or padded gloves. I have a sore spot in my hand from a handful of hours of weeding today, while wearing thin gloves.Pleased with this purchase so far and it seems like a good alternative to the Lesche soil knife at half the price.Update: Loving this after a month of daily, rigorous use for weeding, trans/planting, and working small areas. It's basically my go-to gardening tool, at this point and always with me. The bright red handle makes it easy to find when I set it down somewhere. The additional leverage of the offset handle is genuinely helpful. Great tool.

This is a great baby version of the larger Root Assasin Shovels. Just like it's big brothers this is one tough little shovel. The shovel blade is a bit larger than I expected, but works great in the garden to break up hard dirt and cut through tree roots. It would be nice if the shovel blade was about half of this size. Not exactly what I expected but I like it.

The cutting edges and pointed tip really made the difference to digging up roots and stubborn deep weeds. So happy I purchased this shovel. Very good item.

It’s good that it’s serrated but the tip is smooth and round. The serration needs to go all the way around with a pointed tip to be effective to dig out what I needed dug out.